Warrant: Paralegal delivered phone to high-ranking gang member

While working as a paralegal at a Macon law firm, Stacie Nicole Castleberry allegedly accepted the delivery of a package.

Authorities say the package contained tobacco and a cell phone that Castleberry admits she passed on to 33-year-old Martin "Sawed Off" Kendall, who's in jail at the Bibb County Law Enforcement Center.

Kendall is an alleged leader of Macon's Mafia street gang, according to arrest warrants in the case that charge Castleberry with criminal street gang activity and illegally passing items to inmates.

In a second instance, she's alleged to have passed a cell phone charger and prayer oil to Kendall on behalf of a lower level Mafia gang member, according to the warrants.

Castleberry, 40, was charged Friday and released that night.

Attempts to reach Castleberry and her employer, lawyer Debra Gomez, were unsuccessful Monday.

Kendall has been held at the jail since being charged with murder Aug. 1, 2011, in the fatal shooting of a man outside Wings Cafe on Bloomfield Drive a week before.

He also faces charges stemming from his allegedly being caught having a shank on two occasions, a cell phone on two occasions, and his alleged fighting and acts to obstruct deputies while incarcerated, according to court records.

Arrest warrants indicate Castleberry delivered contraband to at least one other inmate, but that person isn't named in the documents.

SMUGGLERS PAID $600 TO $1,000

Bibb County Sheriff David Davis said Monday that an estimated two dozen cell phones were confiscated in the jail in the past year.

"It's pervasive throughout all correctional facilities," he said.

Speaking in general, Davis said pay for smuggling in a phone can range from about $600 to $1,000.

Using the cell phones, inmates can make calls to the outside without using jail phones that record conversations. The recorded conversations also are subject to monitoring by law enforcement.

Davis said his office is working with a consultant to find further ways to tighten security and prevent contraband from reaching inmates.

The amount of contraband getting in has decreased with the sheriff's office shift to using video chatting for inmate visitation, he said. About 95 percent of inmate visitation now is done via video with visitors in a different area of the jail from the inmate they're visiting.

"The person coming to visit never sees, never has contact with the inmate," he said.

But jail employees, attorneys and attorneys' staffers still have closer access.

Castleberry's arrest follows the arrest last year of two Bibb County deputies also accused of illegally passing items to inmates.

Andre Pope, 24, was indicted in May on two counts of furnishing prohibited items to inmates and two counts of violating his oath of office.

Rogers Lane Zellner, 38, was arrested in October on allegations that he traded with inmates without the consent of the warden or superintendent after he allegedly received payment to pass cell phone chargers to an inmate.

Both men were fired.

Information from Telegraph archives was used in this report. To contact writer Amy Leigh Womack, call 744-4398 or find her on Twitter@awomackmacon.

This story was originally published January 11, 2016 at 6:36 PM with the headline "Warrant: Paralegal delivered phone to high-ranking gang member ."